EVENT: Rising Tides |Monster|

"A wanderer isn't always lost."

Of all the things that had overcame him in the midst of the commotion and immense gatherings of mages, the Nephalem had fallen asleep. Out of sheer boredom and lack of any events occurring, even some kind of bad guy turning the corner to challenge him, the boredom had at long last overtaken him to end up getting more exhausted by the second. Initially he had begun to doze off, with lazy eyes slowly, so very slowly, heavily pulling down their eyelids to cover themselves up. Occasionally he would snap himself back into being awoken with a swift jump of his body and a sudden widened eyes. Though very shortly after waking himself up from dozing, silently promising himself not to fall asleep afterwards, he would end up going back on his own words and begin to slowly drift towards dreamland once more. Eventually not even Deniel could overcome sleep, and right there in the alleyway, completely vulnerable to any sort of attack, he collapsed and fell asleep with his hair spilling on to the ground. Luckily for him, throughout the entire nap he had taken, not a single soul had disturbed him. Mostly because everyone else was too busy with the looming threat throughout the city, speaking with each other, or just didn't notice him. His Magic Power had not been activated in any way, so it was nearly impossible for any kind of Mage to sense him miraculously and locate him.

Snoring away peacefully and without any kind of signs to wake up, it would come as a surprise to someone if they had seen just how much he had been snoozing that he would awaken suddenly. It was built within him to recognize any kind of looming danger, even within his sleep, so that he may react. The danger, however, was not from any kind of force that was directly acting upon him or attempting to creep up. It covered an enormous area, though he could sense that it was quite a distance away. With his eyes very abruptly awakening to a serious look within them, the Nephalem sat up from his sleeping position on the ground. Not even yawning, stretching, or taking any liberty to snap his body out of the resting state it had been in--for it had done it on its own already--he quickly exited the alleyway he was within. Shielding his eyes for a brief moment at the light that was outside of the very dark, and quite creepy now that he had contemplated it, alleyway...he gazed out to the sea. That was more than likely where everyone's gaze was now, and would remain to be. In fact, it was why the Council had called him, and so many other Mages out here. The looming danger that was out there in the sea, and would come for the port city of Hargeon.

Right now he had taken the liberty to try and sense what kinds of other Mages had shown up aside from him. Obviously since his initial arrival, which was one of the first, the number of them had exponentially grown and produced almost a miniature army in all of this. What exactly could be so monstrous as to draw the attention of so many mages? Including the Four Gods of Ishval...all of them were gathered here. In spite of the enormous power that had been combined in Hargeon, the power that had started to come from the sea somehow overpowered each and every one of them. Maybe it because Deniel wasn't even contributing...who would know? Whilst he had been sensing for other Mages, his gaze had unintentionally diverted itself to the left and right, attempting to catch a glimpse or merely looking at the general direction of those that had come to his Magical senses.

Now looking back out towards the sea, there was perhaps one of the most enormous monsters he had ever seen, rising up. If this were the first time Deniel had seen a beast of this magnitude or state, then perhaps he would be the least bit intimidated, or even surprised. Unfortunately for the monster's respect--maybe even its self-esteem-- the Nephalem was not the least bit surprised nor frightened. The appearance of it reminded him much of the Storm King, except without the monstrous storms coming the way...maybe that would come later. And it claiming to be the god that had arrived--or maybe it was the messenger...he didn't know--even caused Deniel to roll his eyes in complete disbelief. In spite of the enormous power that this monster constantly radiated, and the size and magnitude of it all, he did not seem the least bit frightened. With his arms crossed over his chest, his hip bent, and a smirk on his face, the Nephalem looked quite unimpressed and not amused by the entire charade put on but this beast.

"I am your God...." Deniel whispered to himself, mocking the monster with his own words and shaking his head whilst rolling his eyes. Immediately his Magic Power had begun to culminate around himself, awakening from its deep slumber. Concealed no more, a Dark Red aura began to sneak its way up his body, like a serpent crawling on each and every inch of his skin. "Well..." he began as the aura was well over halfway up his body, "We'll see about that." The Dark Red aura had covered up the entirety of the Nephalem's body, and he was Nephalem no more very shortly after that. With a leap of faith straight up into the sky, he began to move in a spiral motion. Just as the tidal wave was launched, a dark red light could be seen high in the sky, only moving upwards as it did so. Behind it was a trail of red Magic Power, radiating intense amounts of force and power through the mere sense of it, and brightening up any darkness that would come around it. Looking similar to a rocket--or even a meteorite traveling in a reverse direction--Deniel eventually stopped in midair and let his arms and legs loose to shake off the red aura.

From underneath it was no longer skin, clothing, hair, or human eyes. Now it was black scales from head to toe, pure red eyes that lacked irises or pupils, fangs and claws replaced teeth and nails, knee-high combat boots, armor on its shoulder blades, a crown extending out its horns, and a pair of beetle wings that had already begun to rattle to keep itself afloat. Beneath him the city was starting to become in ruins due to the wave, and though he wished to stop it, he knew there was no way he could. Perhaps someone else would, but the Nephalem--now the Black Devil--had his own task at hand. With the completion of his transformation, the Black Devil unleashed a feral and savage roar that echoed across the lands similar to the monster's voice, with its mouth open wide and its fangs bared. The roar was meant to give the monster its attention, and the let it know it had been challenged. Immediately upon completing the roar, the Black Devil charged forward in mid-air with gaining momentum and velocity. Initially it was fast, but even that enormous speed had begun to pick up as every nanosecond of flight passed by.

A dark red aura surrounded the Black Devil in its flight, not from a spell, but from the natural conjuring of its Magic Power, and the heat of the atmosphere around it increasing with its sheer speed and presence. The ascension conducted earlier was to bring the Black Devil to the same level as the monster to their faces, so the dark red glowing meteorite going straight for it went for the forehead, a spot that would topple the beast down if the Black Devil proved strong enough. This attack was not meant to finish the fight, or even attempt to. It was a test of the monster's strength and ability, and a way of initiating the first frontal assault against the beast. The Black Devil conveyed that it, and the rest of the mages that accompanied it on the island, would not bow.

Notes:

Statuses:

Marshy @ THQ

credit to nat of adoxography and gangnam style.